WIM MERTENS – Heroides – CD2 – WMM1522

For his new (and sixty-sixth) opus, Heroides, Wim Mertens was inspired by the Heroides.

This is a collection of poems written by the Latin poet Ovid, in the form of letters from mythological heroines (Sappho, Penelope, Hermione,…) to their heroic lovers who are absent (Phaon, Ulysses, Orestes,…) because of wars or other reasons of separation.

Heroides is presented in the form of a double album: the first for piano and voice and the second for an instrumental ensemble (violins, cellos, harp), completed by Mertens on piano. These mostly unanswered letters are what one might call little tragedies. The tragedy of separation from a loved one, of the pain of a love that cannot be shared, of a future without promise.

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